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The New Covenant

My brother, David Howell Stith, and Mary Kathryn Turk were married on October 19, 1963.   Years passed, life happened, until one day in the fall of 1989 they decided to go their separate ways. They divorced.

Dave and Kathy
Dave and Kathy

Ten years later Dave asked Kathy to marry him  again.  She said “Yes” again.  And when they were married the second time he made with her a New Covenant.

* * *

More than 15 years passed before Dave became a stranger whose name Kathy did not know.  She didn’t know him, but he knew  her and loved her still.  When she could not feed herself, he fed her.  When she could no longer do anything for herself, he did everything for her.

Here is that vow Dave made the second time around.

“God’s word is replete with promises and covenants. One of the earliest ones that comes to mind is God’s covenant with Abraham and then more promises to Moses, Joshua and Sampson.  Somewhere in the passage of time God made a new covenant with his people. It was almost as if He were saying “O. K., the old covenant didn’t work so I will make with you a new covenant.”

“In some similar manner I come this day to make with you a new covenant. I promise to love you but not only you. I promise to cherish you while at the same time cherishing other people and relationships. I promise to honor you while honoring all others who deserve it.”

“I also promise to love you the most, cherish you the best and honor you the highest.”

Kathy died of Alzheimer’s disease one year ago today.

Coming Monday: CAMPNEVERAGAIN

The Embezzler

I can never again be around money that doesn’t belong to me because someone might embezzle it right under my nose — and I can’t take that chance.

If that happened some people would surely say, didn’t this happened once before when that guy was in charge?

Indeed it did.

The embezzler was the church secretary and I was the church treasurer when it started. Another man was treasurer and I was chairman of the Finance Committee when it ended, when the preacher got suspicious and blew the whistle.

If I had had any idea the woman was stealing money, I could have caught her myself. I was an investigative reporter. And I had complete access to the books, to every financial record at the church.

But I didn’t suspect.

I had questioned various errors she made in the church financial records and had tried, unsuccessfully, to get her fired for incompetence.  That’s almost funny when you think about it:  She wasn’t the one who was incompetent —she was just a crook — I was the one who was incompetent.

As chairman of the finance committee I had to swallow a bitter pill, I had to tell the congregation what had happened on my watch.  We hired an auditor to figure out, best we could, how much money had been taken and I reported that to the congregation, too.

Later on we had a church meeting to decide whether to prosecute.  My wife and I voted “Yes” along with a few other people. Most people voted “No,” that wouldn’t the Christian thing to do.

I was relieved.

I thought she should have been prosecuted but, for selfish reasons, I was glad she wasn’t. I wasn’t looking forward to testifying about the safeguards I and my committee had not instituted or the warning flags I had not recognized.

Coming Friday: The New Covenant